History Highlight:

Today in 1989, after leaving Def Jam, Beastie Boys released their second album, Paul's Boutique, on Capitol Records. The album, containing singles "Hey Ladies" and "Shadrach", did not match the sales of the Beastie Boys' previous record, Licensed to Ill, and Capitol eventually stopped promoting it. However, its popularity grew and it has since been recognized as a breakthrough achievement. In 2003, the album was ranked number 156 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Also, Today In:

1925 - The first 50,000-watt radio station, WGY from Schenectady, NY, began transmission.

1965 - At the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan played an electric set for the first time, horrifying folk purists everywhere.

1968 - The Beatles recorded their first take of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Harrison had been reading the Chinese philosophical text the I Ching, which stipulates that there are no coincidences in the universe (i.e. that everything is connected and thus meant to be), and decided to use the book as inspiration to write a song. So, he opened another book and told himself he would compose a song based on the very first words his eyes landed on. The words turned out to be "gently weeps".

1969 - Neil Young appeared with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the first time at The Fillmore East in New York. Young was initially asked to help out with live material only, but ended up joining the group on and off for the next 30 years.

1999 - Woodstock '99 ended in chaos with riots, fires, looting, three rapes, and other crimes, including three accidental deaths. In addition, several fans were hospitalized from drinking polluted water.

2003 - Erik Braunn, Iron Butterfly guitarist, died of a heart attack related to a birth defect in Los Angeles, California, at age 52.

2009 - World War I veteran Harry Patch, the subject of the Radiohead song "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)," died at age 111.

2014 - Weird Al Yankovic became the first comedy act to hit the top spot for more than 50 years. Mandatory Fun, Yankovic's 14th album, and his best-selling since Straight Outta Lynwood, which was released in 1991 went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart.

2017 - Justin Bieber apologized to his fans after cancelling the remaining dates of his Purpose World Tour because of "unforeseen circumstances". The move affected 14 dates in Asia and North America which were coming up over the next three months. The singer had performed more than 150 shows on the tour, promoting his 2015 album Purpose, since March 2016. The tour had grossed $93.2 million in the first half of 2017.

Birthdays:

William 'Benny' Benjamin, primary drummer for Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, was born on this day in 1925.

Rock musician and composer Tom Dawes (lead vocalist of The Cyrkle) was born in Albany, New York in 1944. He is also remembered for writing the music for some of advertising's best-known commercial jingles, including "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz" for Alka-Seltzer and "7Up, the Uncola".

Jim McCarty, Yardbirds drummer, is 75.

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth is 60.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.